I haven’t posted on this site in a while. I lived in the co-op down the street from the theater, watched every brick go in, then lamented the programming for years, pining for the old RKO on 8th avenue.

Great shot, Ed. Classic image of the Deuce in general back then, especially the guy sleeping 2-3 rows from the top. Usually a relatively calm audience, except when the snoring started, most likely more than one guy at a time, with others screaming for them to “shut up”. Great stuff.

In the Chelsea neighborhood of the 1950s, 8th avenue was a dividing line between the Black/Hispanic community (on the east side of 8th), which supported the Chelsea and the Elgin, and the white community (west side of 8th), which supported the RKO 23rd Street and The Terrace on 23rd Street between 8th & 9th. By 1960 they were all gone except for the Elgin which still remains. jk

I agree with the excitement of feverishly scanning the new TV Guide for the Early Show, The Late Show (during summer vacation) and Million Dollar Movie. Also, the anticipation of “what will they show” when a ballgame doubleheader was rained out.

Back to being almost on-topic. I caught “Journey” at my RKO 23rd St with “Miracle of the Hills” with Rex Reason. I remember seeing it with dad on Friday night and begging my mom to let me see it again with the kids on Saturday. No luck.

NYT article on 2-4-27 mentions the sale of Jenny “The Swedish Nightingale” Lind’s home at 361 West 23rd Street in Chelsea. Previous poster mentions an organ being installed in the same year 1927 at The Terrace so I believe that the address listed in my 1956 Film Yearbook as 361 West 23rd Street for The Terrace is in error.

July 19, 1987
STREETSCAPES: THE RIALTO THEATER; A Times Sq. Cinema Nurtured By the ‘Merchant of Menace'
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY

LEAD: IT is apparently the largest glass block facade in New York City, an unusual Art Moderne theater of blue and white glass with streamlined aluminum fins.

IT is apparently the largest glass block facade in New York City, an unusual Art Moderne theater of blue and white glass with streamlined aluminum fins.

But the building that once housed the old Rialto Theater is scheduled to make way next year for the joint city-state 42d Street Development Project, unless the building’s long-term lessees can prevent condemnation, or the project falls through. In fact, a new theater, the Cineplex Odeon Warner, has recently opened in the old Rialto space.

The 1935 Rialto, at the northwest corner of 42d and Seventh Avenue, was designed with a 750-seat theater with stores on the ground and subway levels, a special subway entrance and offices and a restaurant above with a circular dance floor.

The architects of the Rialto were Thomas Lamb and Rosario Candela. Lamb was a prolific theater architect; he also designed the Empire Theater at 236 West 42d Street, among others. Candela had designed many luxury apartments on Fifth and Park Avenues in the 1920’s.

But the Rialto had little precedent. Above a first floor of unexceptional storefronts, the second floor was composed of alternating deep blue glass with white marbling and strips of metal. Above these were protruding aluminum fins similar to those found on engines and other mechanical equipment. The third floor was composed entirely of cream-colored glass blocks in alternating curved and faceted bays.

A parapet wall and an 80-foot-high corner tower, also in the same glass, crowned the building. The upper section had an illuminated strip sign carrying local and entertainment news.

Lewis Mumford, the urban historian and architectural critic, writing in The New Yorker in 1936, described the colors as ‘'unspeakable’‘ and said the overall design was a ’‘wisecrack.’‘ But a 1935 newspaper article called the building ’‘the most ambitious glass structure thus far,’‘ and the same system was used in building the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in 1940.

The Rialto opened for Christmas of 1935 with Frank Buck’s ‘'Fang and Claw.’‘ The theater’s manager, Arthur Mayer, saw the Rialto as distinctly masculine in tone. Most theaters, he said in a newspaper interview after the opening, were ’‘rococo, luxurious palaces for the uxorious,’‘ both in styling and choice of films. His theater, both in styling and presentations, sought to satisfy the ’‘ancient and unquenchable male thirst for mystery, menace and manslaughter.’‘ He was soon called the ’‘merchant of menace.’'

The restaurant was apparently removed around 1950, and its space taken over for a succession of studio uses, including the Joe Franklin television show. As West 42d Street declined, so did the theater, and by the 1960’s it was satisfying another seemingly ‘'ancient and unquenchable thirst’‘ – for pornographic movies. In the early 1980’s, it had a short run as a theater for stage plays.

The Times Square area has been the focus of various redevelopment plans. The most recent involves the renovation of most of the theaters, and the replacement of the Rialto building with an office building. The decision on what buildings to preserve was based, in part, on a 1981 report by two historians, Adolf Placzek and Dennis McFadden, who said the Rialto had ‘'no outstanding merit.’‘ Their report also found the Candler Building, at 220 West 42d Street, was not eligible for landmark regulation.

But in 1980, the building had already been independently recommended by New York State for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. And the Landmarks Commission recently held hearings on the designation of another Art Moderne theater, the Metro, on Broadway near 99th.

The Rialto building is owned by the Kohlberg family trust. An officer at the Chemical Bank, which administers the trust, said the bank will not oppose the condemnation proceedings. But the Brandt Organization, which holds a 100-year lease on the building from the trust that dates to 1953, is opposing the project. It would terminate Brandt’s lease, now well below market value. The Brandts have recently subleased the Rialto Theater to the Cineplex Odeon Corporation, which has spent $1.5 million to reopen the theater.

A spokesman for Cineplex Odeon said the Times Square project, which would mean the demolition of the building, was considered ‘'only a possibility, not a certainty.’'

My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 3-D yesterday as part of the Tampa’s classics series. Before the film, patrons take pictures of the palace, there is a 20 minute organ recital of movie tunes, coming attractions of next week’s CASABLANCA. What a thrill! Great atmosphere! You have to see a classic here, it’s our time machine. jerry

I was just looking at a book in the library called “1950s” by Jane Duden. Not much of a book but it does have a small shot of the Rialto taken from the south side of 42nd Street. Double bill is surprisingly conventional WE’RE NOT MARRIED and BROKEN ARROW. If this was during the original run of WE’RE NOT MARRIED that would put the year at 1952. j the k